Remembering Larry Lewin: 1938-2012
April 30, 2012
It is with great sadness that we announce that Lawrence S. (Larry) Lewin, founder of The Lewin Group, died on Sunday, April 29th at his home in Chevy Chase, MD. He was 74. He was a pioneer in the effort to model comprehensive health care delivery and coverage strategies. Lewin founded Lewin and Associates, Inc. in 1970 (now known as The Lewin Group) and served as its Chief Executive Officer until he retired from The Lewin Group in December 1999. He then served for many years as an Executive Consultant, assisting senior healthcare executives, foundations, and organizations in strategic decision-making, program improvement, and executive coaching.
Lewin began his professional career as special assistant to Postmaster General Lawrence O’Brien, helping establish the presidential commission that resulted in the conversion of the postal department to a government corporation. Lewin’s first foray into the world of health policy was as a Vice Chair (Management) of the McNerney Task Force on Medicaid in 1969-70. Over the next 36 years, both through The Lewin Group and independently, he directed a wide range of projects in health policy and finance, academic medicine, public and private health insurance and health systems management and governance. His life’s work was focused on helping institutions affordably expand health care for all Americans. Lewin was proudest of his service as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. He served the military recently as a member of the Board of Regents at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and as a member of the Congressionally mandated Task Force on the Future of Military Medicine.
Over the course of his career, Lewin was a Founding Trustee, Association for Health Services Research; member of The Commonwealth Fund’s Task Force on the Future of Academic Medicine; Co-Chair, Harvard Medical School’s Health Policy Committee Advisory Board; Trustee, National Academy of Social Insurance; Chair, Health Reform Advisory Committee on benefits, coverage, and financing for the Presidential transition (1992-1993). He also served on a number of public and private boards including: CardioNet, H&Q Healthcare and Life Sciences Funds, Intermountain HealthCare, Consumer Health Advisers, Inc., and Medco Health Solutions. Lewin was also a trustee of the National Academy of Social Insurance and was a founding member of the Association for Health Services Research (now Academy Health). He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1984 and served eight years as a member of the IOM Council. In 1989-90 he chaired an IOM Study on Drug Abuse Treatment, and in 2004 was awarded the IOM’s Yarmolinsky Medal for Distinguished Service.
Lewin lived most of his life in the Washington, DC area. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the local arts community, serving on the board of Arena Stage and of the Roundhouse Theater in Bethesda, MD.
Lewin received an A.B. degree, cum laude, from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and an M.B.A. with high distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Larry Lewin was a driving force in health care consulting and policy, and leaves behind a rich legacy of the impact of his work on the people served by the programs and institutions with which he worked, as well as the careers built by those who worked at The Lewin Group. Larry will be greatly missed and we will keep his family in our thoughts.